Tag: Authoritarianism

RAMAZAN KILINÇ 23 NOVEMBER 2018 On October 19, Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Sudais, the imam of the Grand Mosque of Mecca and the highest religious authority in Saudi Arabia, delivered a sermon and declared the Saudi crown prince Muhammad bin Salman as a renewer of religion whom all Muslims should obey. This move was in reaction to the […]

RAMAZAN KILINÇ 14 NOVEMBER 2018 On 12 November 2018, the Amnesty International withdrew its most prestigious human rights prize from Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s chief of government, accusing her of perpetuating human rights abuses against the Rohingya Muslim minority. In the past, Suu Kyi was put on house arrest for several years by the military regime […]

RAMAZAN KILINÇ 30 AUGUST 2016, BERKLEY FORUM If it had succeeded, the July 15 coup would have turned Turkey into a military authoritarian regime. It might have even led Turkey into a spiral of violent political instability for several years to come. The failure of the coup saved Turkey from a possible military authoritarianism and […]

RAMAZAN KILINÇ 5 DECEMBER 2015, OPEN DEMOCRACY On Sunday, November 1, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) regained its majority in the parliament, winning the 49 percent of the votes. The party secured 317 seats in a 550-member parliament to continue its single-party government for another term, after losing it in the June 7 elections. Despite […]

RAMAZAN KILINÇ 24 MARCH 2014, OPEN DEMOCRACY Turkey blocked Twitter late at night on March 20. This was a culmination of a series of authoritarian moves since last summer. In summer 2013, the government harshly responded to the popular protests that grew after a group of people organised demonstrations to prevent Istanbul city government from […]